CO NONRES TAGS WILL GO UP IN 2009

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littlehunter23

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Saturday, November 15, 2008


By DAVE BUCHANAN

Nonresident big-game hunters will pay more for a license next year after the Colorado Wildlife Commission Thursday adopted higher prices for out-of-state big-game fees.

Nonresident hunting-license prices are tied to a 2008 Consumer Price Index, which this year jumped 3.7 percent from last year?s level. Bull elk licenses will rise from $525 to $545, all deer licenses go from $315 to $325 and pronghorn tags increase to $325 from $315.

Other nonresident price increases include moose, mountain goat and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep to $1,825 from $1,760. Nonresident hunters are not able to purchase a desert bighorn sheep hunting license.

Nonresident licenses for bear, mountain lion and cow elk will be $250.

The Division of Wildlife gets more than half ($53.8 million) of its $95 million budget from the sale of deer and elk licenses. Nonresident elk and deer hunters contribute $45.5 million of the $53.8 million.

While this year?s numbers haven't yet been compiled, anecdotal reports from wildlife officers around the Western Slope indicate a slump in big-game hunter numbers.

While there might be several mitigating factors, certainly chief among them must be the cost of gas before recent price declines and a general malaise throughout the nation?s economy.

Division of Wildlife Director Tom Remington spoke frankly to the commission after it adopted the nonresident price increases, cautioning the commission that the future holds some tough choices for the Division.

?As we get closer to our desired elk population objective, the number of elk licenses available will dwindle,? Remington told the commission and the audience at the DoubleTree Hotel in Colorado Springs.

?We knew that would happen, especially in the northwest.?

Although there still are more elk in the state than the DOW considers either socially or biologically desirable, the agency in this decade has made inroads in reducing elk numbers.

A recent estimate said elk numbers have dropped by about 20,000 animals since 2000. There are an estimated 292,000 elk in the state while the population objective is between 202,000 and 234,000.

Much of the reduction came through increased availability of licenses for cow elk, something that will end, said Remington, as elk herds get closer to objectives.

Fewer licenses mean less revenue for the DOW.

?We?ve been living off the largess of our elk herds for some time,? Remington said. ?As we come closer to our objectives, we are going to be seeing substantially fewer elk licenses, which means fewer bull licenses and we may or may not, depending on the decisions about the next (five-year) season structure, have over-the-counter licenses.?

Remington said the fiscal impact from fewer licenses may be $10 to $20 million per year.

?One way to make up for that is to increase the cost of licenses to at least make accommodation for inflation,? Remington said. ?At some point down the road we will have to revise our (license) price structure or cut back on other programs.?

The commission also was made aware of a proposal to offer a limited bull moose hunting season on Grand Mesa. The DOW Northwest Region office is revising the moose management plan for Grand Mesa and the Crystal River. Any decision on the moose hunt will be made at a later commission meeting.

Copies of the moose draft management plan is available on the DOW Web site, wildlife.state.co.us. Click on Hunting, then Big Game, then DAU Management Plans.

Comments should be sent via e-mail no later than Dec. 15.

Interested citizens have an opportunity to talk about these and other wildlife issues Tuesday at a meeting of the Northwest Region Sportsmen?s Advisory Group. The meeting runs from 6-8 p.m. at the DOW Northwest Region Hunter Education Building, 711 Independent Ave.

?We don't head into these meetings with a set agenda,? said Ron Velarde, DOW Northwest Regional Manager. ?The goal is to let the public bring topics to us. We want to hear their concerns, comments and questions.?



SRY TO HEAR THIS FOR ALL THE OUT OF STATE HUNTERS. I THINK THE PRICES SHOULDNT BE RAISED.
 
Well there goes my chances at ever killing an elk. Damnation.

Aim Center Mass
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THIS IS TOTAL BS!

?As we come closer to our objectives, we are going to be seeing substantially fewer elk licenses, which means fewer bull licenses and we may or may not, depending on the decisions about the next (five-year) season structure, have over-the-counter licenses.?

For years they claimed the elk numbers were too high. Meanwhile, hunters from all corners of the state never agreed. The DOW hammered the herds by handing out cow tags to everyone and their grandma.

And now...not only are the herds near objectives, it has obviously flipped the other direction, because they want to get rid of OTC tags?!

Nice to live in a state where every single tag is going to be draw! Impossible to draw moose, sheep, goat, and antelope tags, getting impossible to draw a deer tag, and now we are going to have to draw for elk too, even though they claimed they were overpopulated! They already banned trapping in this state, I am not sure what the DOW and Wildlife Commision's real objectives are.
 
Speaking as a NR, it's worth every penny! Colorado is a great place to hunt big game. You could see it coming though. They lost a lot of revenue due to decrease application numbers last year. They have to pass that along somewhere.


It's always an adventure!!!
www.awholelottabull.com
 
Yeah I think you're right Awholelottabull, only problem is they will loose even more hunters when the raise the price again so their revenu will go down again. When they raise the elk tags from $250 to $500 a few years back it really cut into the number of non-res hunters.

Calif_Mike
 
Trust me I am not what you would consider rich by any means but 10$ more for deer and antelope and 20$ more for elk that ain't bad I am not going to let 10$-20$ stop me from what I enjoy most I still hope I draw " It Definetley Could be Worse"!!
 
WITH THE AMOUNT OF DEER TAGS THAT MUST BE CUT I'M SURPRISED THEY DIDN'T BEND US OVER WAY HARDER THAN THAT???

UTAH WOUDLD'OF!!!

IF COLORADO DOESN'T DO SOMETHING DRASTIC TO BRING DEER/BUCK NUMBERS BACK UP THEY WILL BE IN DEEP DOO-DOO QUICK!!!

ONE QUESTION THOUGH???

WHY THE HELL WERE THEY STILL SHOOTIN DOES IN SEVERAL OF THESE UNITS IN 08???

ANSWERS PLEASE???

Pro???

ANYBODY???

THIS IS MY NEW GUN,YOU MAY NOT LIKE IT,YOU'LL LIKE IT A HELL OF A LOT LESS WHEN IT HITS ITS DESTINATION!!!
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THE ONLY bobcat THAT KNOWS ALOT OF YOU HAVE HAD THIS IMAGE IN YOUR PEA BRAIN BUT DUE TO POOR SHOOTING TACTICS I'M STILL KICKIN!!!
 
Bess, everytime I bring up doe tags, someone claims it is to better the buck doe ratio. What people won't admit is, you can achieve the same ratio by shooting less bucks too!
 
Price hikes do not surprise me a bit. I expect it every year. I guess we can now count on death, taxes and increased non-resident tag fees. Like it has already been said in this post, Colorado is worth every penny! I love Colorado.
 
Tag fee's are going to go up every year because they are set to adjust for inflation.

I still dont see how any Nonresident can complain about the CO Division of Wildlife who give Nonresidents OTC Bull Tags and 35% of our draw licenses against the wishes or what Resident hunters want, which is fewer Nonresident hunters.
 
I totally understand there COhunter. The downside to that is, if you got rid of the NR hunters your DWR would fold and there wouldn't be any good hunting in CO anymore. The vast majority of your states income for DWR comes from the NR. I'm not complaining one bit. Sorry COhunter, price hikes won't scare me away. It's still some of the best hunting out there.

It's always an adventure!!!
www.awholelottabull.com
 
Never said I wanted to get rid of Nonresident hunters, but I would like to see us fall more inline with other western states when it comes to tag allocations. I believe an 80/20 would be a better distrobution of tags, which is still more generous than most states offer Nonresidents.

But the original intent of my previous post was to point out that Colorado is the most Nonresident friendly western state there is!
 
I agree that license cost increases are a given. In the past, I have had some good hunts in Colorado. But my 2008 hunt was likely the worst hunt I have ever been on, and that covers from Texas to Canada, Nebraska to California and 40 years of chasing muleys. In general, Colorado does a better job of managing mule deer than most states. But I found out this year that some areas are just not good. I'll be a LOT more cautious in applying in the future.
 
A few $$$ isn't going to keep me from going to CO.

"The Division of Wildlife gets more than half ($53.8 million) of its $95 million budget from the sale of deer and elk licenses. Nonresident elk and deer hunters contribute $45.5 million of the $53.8 million."

How can a resident complain about NR getting 20-35% of the tags when 85% of the money generated from tag sales comes from NRs? Remember those hard to draw units are limited to only 20% for the NR. Typical Democrat mentality... I should get it for next to nothing and the guys that can afford it should pay for my privilege.

I think they should raise resident fees substantially if they're having money issues.
 
I've always been an "advocate" for the average Joe hunter and it is always kind of interesting trying to figure out new strategies that will help everyone draw tags to hunt quality units.

Wyo has an interesting twist on the draws that I kind of like. They offer regular and special priced tags for nonresidents. The special draw tag price is higher but often (but not always) offers a little better odds of drawing a tag. This system generates more income to the WG&F and hunters can decide whether they would like to pay more for the same tag.

New Mexico has a premium tag price for some of the "high demand" units. There are likely fewer tags available in these units but the quality experience and animals found in these units is likely higher. The higher price with few tags off-sets having more hunters paying less for tags.

Do you think systems like these would work in Colo? It would also be interesting to offer residents the same option of paying a higher fee in limited units. As a Colo resident I would be willing to pay a lot higher price for a tag if I knew I had better odds of drawing a limited tag in a unit with quality animals!
 
I live in Colorado and what ticks me off is they still talk and act like Colorado is such a great hunting state. They talk like we still have waaay too many elk! PLEASE!

Maybe on private ground but public lands? sucks! I see fewer elk every year it seems AND fewer hunters.

Me and my son went up Hermosa the second day this year on the second season. I was blown away by how FEW of camps there were compared to past seasons. I have seen fewer every year, everyone I talk to says the same thing.

DOW IMO is not doing a very good job of improving the quality of hunting in colorado. :O(
 
bambi, if we didnt have to hire so many game officers to patrol the non residents we wouldnt need as much money. just kiddin. wanted to see how many feathers i ruffle. as a resident i dont mind the non residents getting more of the tags because the units i hunt i feel i have an advantage over them by living in them every day (being able to scout more). you could see the price increase coming with less hunters so the dow makes their money. just my thoughts
 

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